Memorizing the Word

Hereā€™s a question: if the Son of God deemed it necessary to memorize the Scripture to defend himself against temptation, why would we think weā€™re exempt?

Memorize Phrase by Phrase

The Scripture provides the method for memorizing its rich truth. Isaiah recorded, ā€œTo whom will he teach knowledge . . . For it is precept upon precept . . . line upon line . . . here a little, there a little.ā€Ā  The best way I have found to retain biblical passages is to learn a phrase, repeat it until Iā€™ve mastered it, then move on to the next phrase. Once I have the phrases mastered, I begin to link them together. Sometimes I will alter my emphasis on certain words in the phrase; other times I will alter the location where Iā€™m memorizing (my office, the car, my home), but always I am working the phrases and adding the subsequent phrase. As the Scripture says, line upon line, here a little, there a little.

MemorizeĀ Day by Day

When it comes to memorizing, I have found it to be more effective to spend a few minutes several times a day, as opposed to a lot of time one day during the week. Simply put, for your mind to permanently retain a truth, you will need to learn it more than once. For me the pattern works like this: Learn it once. Forget it. Relearn it. Forget it again. Relearn it again. Forget less. Relearn it again. Retain it.

While it may sound odd, forgetting is actually a significant part of memory retention. Remembering my need to forget keeps me from growing discouraged. Scripture memory is more of a process than a single event. Having worked on a verse for several days doesnā€™t mean I will remember it tomorrow morning. I now see the process of forgetting as an essential part of learning the verse.

Ā Taken fromĀ Just Like Jesus: biblical strategies forĀ growing well byPhil Moser, pages 35-36. Available though www.biblicalstrategies.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *